Jinxed

by Amy McCulloch

  ‘That can’t be true!’ scoffs Ashley, hugging Jupiter tight to her chest.

  ‘It is. So if Eric wants Jinx back, he can just take him from you. You’ll need an additional plan.’

  I nod. ‘I’ve thought of that. I’ll get in touch with Mr Baird.’

  ‘But he’s just been fired!’ says Tobias. ‘I heard it’s because he’s a corporate traitor. That he works for BRIGHTSPRK or something.’

  ‘Well . . . that’s true,’ I say. I figure now that he’s been fired, I don’t need to worry about keeping his secret any more.

  There are gasps all around the locker.

  ‘But he’s going to help me. He said he’ll protect me and Jinx. He can arrange for us to get picked up once we get Jinx back. And then I’m going to find Monica Chan and tell her what her partner is up to. She’ll put a stop to his plans once and for all, I know it.’

  ‘Dude, you have to tell us what is going on with Jinx,’ says River.

  ‘Does he have some sort of new technology?’ asks Tobias.

  He’s real, is what I want to say. But the words balance on the tip of my tongue without slipping out. It’s too crazy, I can’t say it out loud. I know I need to give them something though. ‘It’s buried in his code. Something that Moncha doesn’t want to get out.’

  ‘Ooh, ooh, is it mind control?’ asks River. ‘That’s what all the conspiracy posters on Reddit say is the next step for exploiting baku owners.’

  ‘What? No!’ I say, although I suppose telepathic communication isn’t that far off.

  ‘Huh, like some sort of proprietary software or something?’ muses Tobias.

  I nod. ‘Yeah, more like that.’

  ‘Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Let’s prepare a strategy,’ he says, rubbing his hands together.

  ‘This is Carter we’re talking about. Not some sort of mastermind villain. We’ll be able to take him down easily,’ says Kai.

  ‘But we’re running out of time,’ Tobias says, looking down at his watch.

  ‘I’ll call Mr Baird,’ I say. I pull out the business card from my pocket, then I dig out an ancient rotary phone from one of the boxes in my locker. The others look at it like it’s some kind of alien device.

  ‘People used to talk to each other using that?’ asks Ashley, wrinkling her nose.

  ‘Apparently.’

  ‘Gross. How did you even know if someone was being sincere if you couldn’t see their face?’

  I shrug. ‘Like I know. But I don’t think I should use a Moncha Corp baku to call someone at BRIGHTSPRK.’

  ‘This is like a Bond movie!’ exclaims River.

  I dial the number, waiting for it to ring out. ‘Hello?’ says the voice on the other end.

  ‘Mr Baird? This is Lacey. Jinx and I need your help.’

  ‘WE’RE PART OF CARTER’S BAKU Battle team,’ Tobias says to the security guard at the front desk, Aero spreading his wings – simultaneously looking impressive and partially obscuring us from view. We know that Carter trains here with Gemma’s team, so we’re hoping that the guard hasn’t paid too much attention to which particular students have been coming and going.

  ‘He’s signed in, you’re right, but he didn’t mention anything about a team . . .’

  ‘We have a standing order to practise whenever possible. Eric Smith said we could,’ says Tobias, putting on his most authoritative-sounding voice. Aero squawks loudly. This is stage one of the plan. All we need to do is get in, find Carter, get Jinx back, and then Mr Baird will be waiting outside to take Jinx and me to safety. What I’ll do from then . . . I’ll figure out later.

  The security guard frowns. I’m hoping that the fear of pissing off Eric Smith is greater than the desire to check if we’re really supposed to be there.

  Then Tobias pulls out his trump card. It’s a pass he stole from his dad’s home office, emblazoned with the same logo we saw on the video: the logo for Team Happiness. The guard’s eyes widen at the sight. ‘All right, go on through – but try not to create too much of a mess this time around, okay guys?’ His sleek black panther baku sniffs us each as we pass, but with my level 1 baku especially, I don’t attract any special notice.

  We walk casually towards the elevators. Tobias leans down to talk in my ear.

  ‘Okay, the four of us will take on Carter – we shouldn’t have any trouble. You focus on getting Jinx.’

  I nod. ‘I will.’

  Tobias and I head down in the elevator, while the others take the stairs, following Tobias’s directions. Thankfully there aren’t many staff around so late at night, so there’s less chance of us running into much questioning.

  There’s no denying that we might have a better chance against Carter if we use the element of surprise, but we’ve decided that our first course of action is for Tobias to try and reason with him.

  Tension radiates from him. I want to make things better between us, and I hesitate. But this might be the last time that I will get to see him for a while.

  As the elevator doors slide closed, I reach out and touch Tobias’s arm, just above his elbow. He looks down at it, but doesn’t shift his position. I swallow. ‘Thank you for doing this.’

  He sighs and turns to face me. ‘I want . . .’ but he doesn’t finish the statement. The bell dings for our floor and for once I wish that technology wouldn’t work so friggin’ well – that it would break down, leaving us stranded together, trapped in the elevator until we sort things out. Aero flaps out first, and Tobias follows, moving so quickly my hand is forced to drop.

  Jinx. I remind myself. Jinx first, and then I can focus on rebuilding my relationships.

  ‘This way,’ Tobias says, looking at the map that Aero projects in front of him. ‘Through here.’ He leads me through a sliding glass door emblazoned with the constellation on it, into a long hallway – the one I saw in the video, with the waterfall window. This wing, however, feels different to the other parts of Moncha HQ that I’ve seen. For one thing, the walls seem to shimmer as we walk quickly past, making my eyes go funny.

  ‘All the walls here are screens,’ says Tobias. ‘Eric wants Team Happiness to be able to code whenever inspiration strikes.’

  ‘Wow,’ I say. If I wasn’t so focused on finding Jinx, I’d be way more impressed. ‘How are we going to find Carter in this labyrinth though?’

  Tobias gives me a small smile. ‘That, I think, will be the easy part. Aero, call Hunter.’

  Aero obeys the command, and a second later we hear the snuffling sound of the boar from further down the hall. We race to catch up with the sound, then pause outside the door.

  ‘Ready?’ Tobias mouths to me. I nod.

  We open the door.

  Carter is standing at the far end of a huge open-plan space, similar to the brainstorming lab we’d been shown earlier.

  ‘No one is supposed to be in here!’ says Carter, sounding panicked. ‘Do I have to spell out every single instruction . . .’

  He stops talking when he looks up and sees us.

  ‘Give back Jinx, you animal!’ I blurt out, so not the softly, softly approach that Tobias and I had discussed. Tobias throws his arm out in front of me to stop me from doing something stupid – like launching myself towards him.

  ‘What Lacey means to say is, she knows you have her baku and we would like to ask for it back – nicely,’ says Tobias. Aero is down by his side, and I see him furiously typing a message on his back, to communicate our position to the others.

  Carter looks as if he is going to lie to us, but then he moves his body to reveal the cage that holds Jinx’s inert body. ‘There’s no way you’re getting this machine back. It wasn’t yours to begin with. You don’t even know what that thing is. But my dad knows. He’s been looking for this baku everywhere. And I’m the one who’s going to return it to him.’

  ‘Carter – listen. There’s two of us and one of you. Let’s make this easy – just give us the baku back,’ Tobias says.

  Carter laughs. ‘Hunter can easily take
on Aero and Lacey doesn’t even have a baku.’ As if to prove his point, the upgraded Hunter steps forward. His bodywork has changed – there’s no attempt to make him look like a ‘realistic’ boar – he’s a brute of titanium and chrome, with two layers of super-charged, razor-sharp curved tusks that look especially vicious. ‘But did you really think I would come down here with no back-up whatsoever?’

  Three other security bakus, the thick-legged, sinewy black metal panthers, jump up on to the tables behind the boar. I swallow. Aero’s not going to be able to handle this on his own.

  Luckily, we’re not alone either.

  Oka bursts through a door at the far end of the room, Lizard and Jupiter not far behind. We’ve come at Carter from both sides. Now it’s a fair fight.

  Carter grunts, but still doesn’t look afraid. ‘Hunter, get that eagle.’

  Aero flaps his wings, raising himself up off the ground. But the boar is good – so good – and Aero is restricted by the ceiling height. Hunter has had upgrades to his back haunches, and with a powerful run-up, launches high into the air. He side-swipes at Aero with his tusks, almost taking a slice out of the eagle’s wing.

  Tobias is forced to send Aero into defence.

  The panthers divide up the remaining bakus between them. Oka and Lizard rally around Jupiter in an attempt to protect her. Ashley barks at them to leave her alone – she can do it. I feel a surge of pride for my friend, especially as she launches Jupiter over the top of Oka and into the oncoming path of a panther.

  Carter has underestimated me again. That’s always his mistake – to see me as the weak link, the one who shouldn’t have made it, the underdog. I place Slick down on the floor and send him scurrying around to Jinx, while I distract Carter by facing up to him directly. My hands ball into tight fists. He’s used to having baku fight baku. Well, he’s about to get another thing coming.

  Carter grins as he sees me approach. ‘What you going to do, Lacey, hit me?’

  ‘If you don’t give me back Jinx, then yes.’

  ‘Well, I have another surprise for you. In school we might only be able to fight baku against baku. But here? The security bakus can fight you.’

  My heart stops, and I spin around, screaming ‘Watch out!’ to Kai, River and Ashley as the panthers leap past the bakus and aim their attacks at the people themselves. It goes against everything I believed Moncha Corp stood for. And it’s the opportunity that Carter needs. While Tobias is distracted by my screams, he sends Hunter up to bring Aero down. There’s a sickening crunch of metal against metal, as Hunter’s tusk pierces Aero’s belly.

  But despite the noise and action, I manage to slip Slick past. He gets to Jinx just as one of the panthers jumps at me. He just misses – because Tobias shoves me out of the way. I roll on the ground, direct my fall towards Carter, then lunge at him to take him out at the ankles. Caught by surprise, he falls to the ground and I pin him there. ‘Got you, you thief!’ I shout. ‘Call off your baku! Call him off!’

  ‘No way!’ he says, defiant even with his cheek pressed to the ground. But I see exactly what I need spilling out of the top of his backpack. Black marks.

  Risking taking a hand off Carter for an instant, I chuck the bag of black marks at Tobias. ‘Use these!’ I shout. Tobias snatches the bag out of the air and uses the marks to subdue Hunter and the security panthers.

  Carter wriggles beneath me and I use both hands to subdue him again.

  He writhes his limbs. ‘What’s the point of you “saving” that thing? Moncha owns the baku, not you. My dad is going to hunt you down. Hunt you down and find that baku – no matter where you go.’

  ‘What? You’re not going to tell your dad anything except that you made a big mistake. Otherwise you’re going to have to explain to him how you had Jinx in your hands and let him slip away. Another failure in your father’s eyes. Is that what you want? Because you can come looking for Jinx. But you won’t be able to find him.’

  For a moment, Carter looks scared. ‘You don’t understand. He won’t stop there. You don’t understand what this baku means to him. It could have implications for the whole company. If BRIGHTSPRK get him . . .’

  ‘No one is going to get him. No one is going to get to use him.’

  Carter shakes his head. ‘You’re so naïve. Dad has resources you can only dream of. One baku just isn’t worth it. It’ll be your whole career. Your future.’

  I don’t doubt it. But I have to be brave. ‘Friends are always worth it.’

  ‘I’ve got Carter,’ says Tobias, touching my shoulder gently. ‘You go and get Jinx.’

  I scramble up gratefully, then walk over to the cage, where I see Slick working hard to remove the black mark from Jinx’s paw. Just as I reach them, the mark pops off. I stretch my arms towards Jinx, my heart soaring as he saunters out of the cage, looking (as far as I can tell) unharmed. He leaps up into my arms.

  My relief is heightened when I hear his voice in my head.

  >>You came for me.

  Of course I did.

  >>Thank you, Lacey.

  Any time.

  Carter looks small, defeated, as Tobias lifts him up to standing. I almost pity him. He thought this was the best way to impress his dad . . . but it’s just backfired. ‘Go home, Carter,’ Tobias says, giving him a shove. Carter picks up his inert boar, struggling under the weight of it.

  ‘I’ll make sure he doesn’t cause any trouble,’ says Kai, who is the first of my teammates to recover. He has a scrape on his arm from his altercation with a panther, but a big goofy grin on his face – as if he enjoyed it. That’s Kai for you. He grabs Carter under the arm and frogmarches him from the room.

  Now I have to trust that Mr Baird can find a safe place for Jinx and me. Somewhere far from Eric Smith’s reaches. Until we can get hold of Monica and she can sort this all out for good.

  ‘Come on, let’s get out of here,’ says Tobias. He’s got one arm around Ashley, who is bleeding from a scratch along her hairline, the other arm supporting River, who is getting shakily to his feet. I nod.

  ‘I couldn’t have done it without you guys,’ I say, with a smile to the rest of the team. I squeeze Jinx in my arms, ready to walk out of there – and to safety.

  But, to my horror, Jinx bolts.

  I CAN ALMOST SENSE IT BEFORE HE DOES IT. The tensing of his small electronic body in my arms, the way that his ears twitch – left and right – his whiskers taking in the surroundings. I instinctively adjust my grip, trying to hold on to him tighter. He can’t do this now. We’re so close to being safe. Mr Baird is waiting for us outside. Every moment we stay at Moncha Corp is another moment we are in danger.

  But Jinx leaps from my arms, able to wriggle out of the tightest grip that I could muster.

  ‘Jinx, no!’ I shout out loud.

  Tobias and the others shout after me in confusion. I sprint after Jinx who darts through an opening I didn’t even realize was a sliding door. It slams shut just as I cross the threshold. I’m separated from the team now, but I can’t look back – not when Jinx is running away from me. A strangled cry escapes from my throat, and I drop to my knees with the momentum of trying to keep up on the slick hardwood floor. Jinx nips through another door. If I don’t hurry, I’m going to be the one locked out next.

  I scramble on the floor, hurtling myself down the hallway. But the door slides across before I make it there. I slam my hand up against the glass and I see Jinx stop and stare back at me.

  ‘Don’t leave me again,’ I cry out. ‘I just got you back.’

  >>I’m sorry, Lacey. His voice is soft inside my ear. I need to find out who I really am.

  ‘But you belong with me,’ I say, my eyes welling with tears. I want it to be true so badly.

  >>It’s all been leading to this.

  What do you mean?

  >>Ever since I was hit with that blaster, I’ve been looking for a way back here.

  My mind flashes back to the hole in his side when I found him. Caused by a blaster. That�
�s one mystery solved, but it brings me no satisfaction.

  >>When you passed by me in the ravine, I knew you could be my way back here. You’d just had your leash installed. I used a proximity signal to find out more about you. I learned you had the skill to fix me. I ran through all the possibilities, factored in all the variables, examined every permutation . . . In the end, it was simple. I could see the path that would lead me back to the heart of Moncha HQ. No one would suspect the baku of a first year student. The hacking was easy: Getting you into Profectus, getting you on to the right team, getting a wild card place so you’d be in the arena. The things I didn’t factor in were the black marks. But you rescued me. And now I am so close to finding out the answers my vast databases couldn’t solve.

  You . . . used me?

  He flicks his tail. >>I need to know who I am.

  I nod, even though it hurts every fibre of my being.

  And then he spins around and, in a couple of bounding leaps, is off beyond my sights.

  I think I hear a siren from behind me. Maybe Carter managed to alert Moncha security. Jinx might not think that he needs me, but I’m not going to leave him until I know that he is safe. How can I find a way to follow?

  >>I can open the door for you says a polite voice. Slick. I’d almost totally forgotten about him.

  Slick crawls out of my pocket and on to the door’s lock. One of the beetle’s front legs disappears into the keyhole, and in a few moments he breaks through the security.

  ‘How did you do that?’ My jaw drops. I’m sure that’s not standard for a beetle baku.

  >>My code has been adjusted by a Miss Zora Layeni to add some specific features and update some of my applications. As a result, I am excellent at picking locks. She wrote in a message: ‘So you never get locked out of your cave ever again’.

  My throat feels tight. Zora did this for me as thanks for fixing Linus. I’m so shocked, I could kiss him. He vibrates with happiness. The door clicks open and I’m through.

  Then, I stop. It’s like I’ve travelled through a portal and out into . . . suburbia? It’s like a set on a movie studio lot. I appear to be on a street, lined with trees either side that can’t possibly be real – the ceiling above us looks like open sky, but I know it has to be an illusion. I turn back towards the door – the only thing that looks out of place. Otherwise, I could be outside and back in time.